Hiram Barber and Huldah A. Barber were involved in a Supreme Court case that was decided in 1858. Hiram had filed for divorce from his wife, Huldah, but the court denied it on the grounds that he did not have sufficient cause to do so. The court found that there was no evidence of adultery or other misconduct by either party and thus could not grant a divorce based solely on incompatibility of temperaments. Furthermore, they ruled that even if such evidence existed, it would still be insufficient to justify granting a divorce without proof of some other legal ground for doing so as provided by statute at the time. Ultimately, the Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision denying Hiram's petition for divorce from his wife Huldah A. Barber

In the case of Hiram Barber v. Huldah A. Barber, by her next friend George Cronkhite, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a husband could be held liable for damages caused by his wife's negligence in operating a carriage while under his control and supervision. The majority opinion found that he could not be held responsible because there was no evidence that he had any knowledge or control over how she drove the carriage. However, Justice Grier dissented from this decision on two grounds: firstly, that it would lead to an absurd result if husbands were allowed to escape liability simply because their wives were driving; and secondly, that it should have been up to a jury - rather than judges - to determine whether or not Hiram had sufficient knowledge and control over Hulda's actions at the time of the accident in question. He argued further that even if such facts did exist they should still be considered as part of determining liability since "the law does not require absolute certainty". Ultimately Justice Grier believed that allowing husbands like Hiram off without any responsibility for their wives' negligent behavior would set an undesirable precedent which needed addressing through judicial action rather than legislative means.